ATHLETES will be heading to the city of love this summer for the Paris Olympic Games – and it is not to be missed.
The previous competition in Tokyo saw Team GB walk away with a whopping 64 medals in total – ranking 4th in the leaderboards.
Diving phenomenon Tom Daley finally secured gold at the 2020 games.
While Adam Peaty cleaned up in the pool by bagging four medals – two golds and two silvers.
But it was Jamaican sprinter Elaine Thompson-Herah who stole all the headlines as she became the first-ever woman to successfully defend the 100m and 200m titles.
Paris will have a lot to live up to after such a terrific event in Tokyo, but fans are in for a nice treat with some of the best athletes set to dust off their gear once again.
The 33rd Summer Olympic Games is scheduled to get underway on Friday, July 26, 2024 which is the official date for the opening ceremony.
And the huge event in France will conclude on Sunday, August 11, 2024.
This will be the third time Paris is hosting the Summer Games with the most recent edition coming exactly 100 years before – 1924.
There is set to be four main zones that will host several events for the duration of the competition.
Paris Olympic 2024 will be broadcast LIVE across all the BBC channels in the UK.
You can also stream the entire action through the BBC website or BBC iPlayer.
And BBC is expected to have a whole host of legendary athletes on the panel such as multiple British champion Jeanette Kwakye alongside American sprinting legend Michael Johnson.
TNT Sports have also earned the rights to show coverage of the mouthwatering Summer Games.
Alternatively, subscription members of Eurosport and Discovery+ can head to the respective channels to watch a number of events.
Yes!
The Paris Olympics 2024 will be FREE to watch on BBC in the UK as long as you hold a valid TV license.
Single tickets packs sales are only accessible via a draw which you will have to sign up for by registering on the website.
Unfortunately, the registration for the first draw closed on April 20 2023.
And the second phase, which was launched on Thursday, May 11 saw over half of the 32 Olympic disciplines sell out by the next day.
However, a third ticket sales phase is scheduled for the end of 2023 when 3.5million more tickets will be available, with a resale platform set to open in spring 2024.
In total, 10m tickets will be on sale across all three phases with 80 percent sold directly to the general public and almost half are priced at EUR 50 (£43) or less.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recommended that Russian and Belarusian athletes can compete at the Paris Olympic Games.
And the president of the IOC, Thomas Bach further supported the decision as he believes ‘athletes should not be punished by their passports’.
However, active and former international athletes say the decision to let the two nations compete could set a ‘dangerous’ precedent.
This includes Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky who took to Twitter to write: “I am disappointed by the IOC recommendations.
“We must not close our eyes to reality. Russian sport is centrally managed by the Kremlin. The Russian regime does not know what fair play is.”
A final decision is yet to be made as the IOC’s position is at odds with World Athletics whose president Lord Coe stated that Russian and Belarusian athletes would remain banned from World Series events “for the foreseeable future”.
French Minister of Sports, Amelie Oudea-Castera previously revealed that the participation of transgender athletes at the Paris Olympic Games will depend on the decision of international sports federations.
But in March, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe stated that transgender women will no longer be allowed to compete in female track and field events regardless of their testosterone levels.
Coe said: “Many believe there is insufficient evidence that trans women do not retain advantage over biological women and want more evidence that any physical advantages have been ameliorated before they are willing to consider an option for inclusion into the female category.
“The judgement we took… was, I believe, in the best interests of our sport.
“We’re not saying ‘no’ forever.”
Transgender sprinter Halba Diouf did not take kindly to Coe’s statement and believes she is being marginalised and hounded after having her Olympics dream shattered.
Diouf told Reuters: “I cannot understand this decision as transgender women have always been allowed to compete if their testosterone levels were below a certain threshold.
“The only safeguard transgender women have is their right to live as they wish and we are being refused that, we are being hounded… I feel marginalised because they are excluding me from competitions.”
There will be four main venues at the Paris Olympics – Grand Paris zone, Paris Centre zone, Versailles zone and Outer.
Stade de France – Opening and closing ceremonies, rugby and athletics
Stade Olympique Colombes Yves-du-Manoir – Hockey
Arena 92 – Swimming, water polo
La Chapelle Arena – Badminton, gymnastics
Saint-Denis – Water polo, diving, artistic swimming
Le Borget – Shooting, sport climbing
Parc des Princes – Football
Stade Roland Garros – Boxing, tennis
Paris expo Porte de Versailles – Indoor volleyball, basketball, table tennis, weightlifting
Paris-Bercy Arena – Artistic gymnastics and trampoline, basketball
Place de la Concorde – 3×3 basketball, breakdancing, BMX freestyle, skateboarding
Pont d’Iéna – Marathon swimming, marathon, race walk, cycling road race and time trial, triathlon
Champ de Mars – Beach volleyball
Grand Palais Éphémère – Judo, wrestling
Les Invalides – Archery
Château de Versailles – Equestrian, modern pentathlon
Le Golf National – Golf
Élancourt Hill – Mountain biking
Vélodrome de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines – Track cycling, BMX, modern pentathlon (fencing)
Stade Pierre-Mauroy – Handball
National Olympic Stadium of Île-de-France – Rowing, Canoe-Kayak
Stade Vélodrome – Football
Parc Olympique Lyonnais – Football
Parc de Princes – Football
Stade Matmut Atlantique – Football
Allianz Riviera – Football
Stade de la Beaujoire – Football
Port de la Pointe Rouge – Sailing
Debarcadere Teahupoo – Surfing
